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Cedar Rapids
The second largest city in Iowa before the Great War, Cedar Rapids would survive that conflict relatively unharmed. However, it would soon fall into chaos as the rest of human civilisation crumbled, and be abandoned. Humans would slowly return to the city during the twenty-second century and begin to rebuild, but it would never reach its former heights. None the less, it was successful enough that Antonio Hildago would chose to make the city the capitol of his new empire. History Pre-War Like the rest of Iowa, pre-war Cedar Rapids was focused on agricultural production and processing. The city acted as a hub for regional farming activities, as well as related industries and the transport of product. This made the city vital to keeping the nation fed, especially as the Resource Wars ground on and took their toll on the American populace. Despite the city being a center for agriculture and food production, rationing and food shortages became commonplace, leading to unrest among the populace who felt that they were starving in the midst of sea of plenty, and seeing no benefits from their hard work. In order to maintain control of the situation, as well to prevent any disruption to vital supplies, the Commonwealth government deployed the National Guard to Cedar Rapids and other cities across the state. These forces maintained order at the barrel of a gun, leading to a state of constant, barely suppressed tension. By the latter half of 2077, the presence of not only armed soldiers, but also Power Armored troops and even APCs on the streets had become commonplace, but far from welcome. As the global situation degenerated, so did the situation within the city. Tensions ran high, with only the presence of armed soldiers preventing full-scale rioting. Theft and black marketeering ran rife, with stolen food being especially popular among those seeking to supplement their rations. While many were caught and publicly tried (and even executed) in order to discourage others, the profiteers continued to thrive in the shadows. Aftermath Unlike the state capitol of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids was spared destruction during the Great War. However, the city was far from unscathed. Panic set in as soon as the sirens sounded with the threat of the National Guard quickly overcome with the fear of nuclear destruction. The flashes of light in the distance made it clear what had happened to the populace, which only served to trigger a further wave of chaos. Looting set in as everyone sought to take whatever they could, either in terms of supplies they might need to survive or just whatever valuables they could take. The situation was not aided by the city’s mayor, Paul Forrest. Confronted with the worst case scenario, he chose to abdicate any responsibility and take his own life. Against this situation, Major Delores Hogan, the commander of the National Guard in the city did what she could to maintain order. Her troops were given shoot on sight orders, authorised to break up the rioting and return order to the city by any means possible. This served to only further escalate the situation, as many of the rioters had armed themselves with whatever they could lay their hands on, including weapons taken from fallen National Guard soldiers. By the evening of the 23rd, portions of the city were ablaze. Outside of the city the situation was even worse. The nuclear blasts had set croplands across the state ablaze, triggering a massive firestorm. Soon, thick black clouds of smoke dominated the horizon, which served to only stoke fears within the city. Dust storms, thick with ash, accompanied them, saturating the city and its people with radioactive fallout. Soon there were streams of refugees flooding towards the city, threatening to overwhelm the already precarious situation by adding to the chaos. Major Hogan was forced to take extreme measures in order to maintain order, much to her distaste and regret. She forcibly absorbed the city’s police forces into her own, using them to place more bodies onto the streets and try to maintain order. They set up roadblocks at key points around the city, and were ordered to turn back any refugees by any means necessary. At the same time, military forces also took control of the city’s hospitals while reinforcing their positions around food stockpiles and other distribution points. To make her situation even worse, she was unable to make contact with any other military or government groups outside of the city. Her men were on their own. The medical situation became especially important as cases of radiation sickness quickly bloomed across the city. Supplies of anti-radiation medications quickly dried up, while reserves of other medicines also began to dwindle in the face of a constant stream of injuries and illnesses. The dwindling supply of food and clean water, as well as the constant violence within the city only served to exacerbate the situation. The surviving medical staff within the city were given orders to treat only the most critical of injuries, and then further ordered to simply do what they could to make the worst cases comfortable and end their suffering quickly. Finally infrastructure failures added to the chaos within the city. Power shortages and blackouts were commonplace, with Hogan forced to cut off most of the city in order to keep key resources running. Water systems failed, while most remaining reserves were now dangerously contaminated. Hogan’s troops were hoarding what supplies they could, but even then it was clear that they were going to run out sooner rather then later. Plummeting morale was also affecting her men. Dealing with a hopeless situation and forced to fire upon the people they were supposed to be protecting, many simply chose to desert. While they would usually only take their weapons, others would abscond with food and medicines, either for themselves or to use as currency. In one case, an entire squad tried to take control of a rations storehouse, and had to be put down by force. Hogan had the ringleaders executed, but she also knew that the damage was done. What started as a trickle grew as the situation wore on and it became clear that there was going to be no relief. Finally, in March of 2078, Hogan was forced to concede that the situation had become completely untenable and that the city could no longer be saved. By that point, more then half the pre-war population were dead or had fled the city. Food reserves were functionally depleted, and medicines were long gone. Her own troops had lost nearly half their strength through casualties or desertion, and their own supplies were nearly spent. As if that was not enough, there were reports of individuals who had supposedly died of radiation exposure rising as zombies, leading to fears of an epidemic spreading among the population. Hogan gave her men a choice; they could either abandon the city with her and try to survive in a fallback position, or they could remain in the city to fend for themselves. For the most part, her remaining men chose to follow her, realizing that there was little left to fight for. They headed out into the Wastelands, leaving the people of Cedar Rapids to fend for themselves. As expected, without the presence of the National Guard, any remaining order within the city collapsed. Many chose to follow their example, choosing to flee the city rather than risk staying in an untenable situation. Those that remained quickly fell into infighting over the remaining supplies and resources, with the situation quickly factionalising and then further disintegrating. An ‘every man for themselves’ mindset took over as the population disintegrated into warring gangs. The violence took its toll, aided by the ongoing radiation and dust storms, disease and the emergence of other new threats. Within a few years, the city was functionally depopulated, leaving behind only a few scavengers to pick over what was left. Rebirth People would slowly return to Cedar Rapids in the 2120s, driven by many of the same needs that has driven their forbears out of the city in the first place. With much of the state now reduced to a radioactive dustbowl, shelter and food became scarce, forcing population movements towards the ruined and abandoned cities. Cedar Rapids was a popular target for those seeking new lives; while it had suffered in the aftermath, the city itself had been spared destruction during the Great War. Many of its buildings were still standing, and it was free from radiation and other major hazards. The first communities to grow up in among the ruins were small and isolated. Consisting mostly of opportunistic scavengers, they did little to establish permanency beyond makeshift repairs to their new homes, and establishing fortifications to help protect them from the outside world. Many of these groups were at first content to pick over the ruins to see what they could find, but that situation would come to change as these groups both grew and reached out to find that there were others sharing the ruined city with them. While at first there was some degree of wariness born of decades of violence where shooting first was the best option, members of these communities would soon come to see the benefits of cooperation. Trade was established between them, as different groups learned to share resources, especially food and clean water to ensure their mutual survival. By the mid 2140s, these groups were also trading with the outside world, exchanging scavenged materials and pre-war relics for supplies. The presence of a nearby trading hub helped facilitate this trade, which expanded contact with the outside world. While far from prosperous, the communities in the Cedar Rapids wastes were doing a lot more than simply surviving. The pivotal moment for the emergent population came in 2155 with a series of meetings between the various community leaders. By this point, trade was commonplace, and many of them had grown to the point that they were running the risk of expanding into each other. And while Raiders and mutated creatures remained a persistent threat, there was a growing feeling of safety among the burgeoning populations. The collective leaders chose to form a council that would be used as a way to help the various communities grow. While no one group would have power over the others, and none would interfere in the others’ affairs, they also would serve to resolve disputes, help with trade and resource allocation and dealing with the rest of the world. Category:Places Category:Communities Category:Iowa